News: Penang To Roll-out More Rent-To-Own Schemes

In a bid to address the increasing number of applicants for affordable homes, the Penang state government eyes to introduce more ‘rent-to-own’ schemes, reported The Star.

This comes after all 999 units under the People’s Housing Project (PPR) scheme have been snapped up.

State Housing, Town, Country Planning and Local Government Committee Chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo revealed that up till now, a total of 102,000 low medium-cost, low-cost and affordable homes are either completed, being built or planned till 2025.

“This is more than the target of a total 76,000 units set by the state government,” he said.

He noted, however, that the number of those who could not afford to buy the low-cost or low medium-cost units was growing.

“As such, the state government has decided to have more of the rent-to-own schemes, especially for this group,” said Jagdeep.

In fact, many of the applicants have been waiting for quite a long time to get a PPR unit, with some having waited up to 11 years.

However, Jagdeep underscored that only eligible applicants will be entertained by the state.

“We will periodically assess the eligibility of the occupants of PPR units and take action to evict those who are not, as a last resort,” explained Jagdeep when commenting on the eviction of 22 families at Taman Manggis PPR project in Jalan Zainal Abidin.

“There are several public housing projects that have PPR units in the state…But among the eligible occupants, there are those from George Town who are not keen on staying in Balik Pulau or the mainland and vice-versa. And, this is among the hiccups we are facing.”

Nonetheless, the state will offer more PPR units in the future, with some projects situated in Balik Pulau, Jelutong and Bukit Minyak on the mainland.

“This would help solve the 1,137 applicants on the waiting list,” noted Jagdeep.